provision

Before you conclude that my entire vacation is going to be a convalescent one, well that is simply not the case, though so far I have certainly watched my fair share of TV and played a nauseatingly ample amount of Gran Turismo 4 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Not to mention ingesting nearly a whole bottle of Tylenol. My plan for next week which by then hopefully will be pain-free, is to go take some scenic drives around the Bay Area and take some photographs of whatever interesting things I see out there. There are several very wonderful back roads or "twisties" which I have come to know over the last few years of sports car ownership; we're very lucky in the Bay Area to have so many to choose from. I plan to travel down a different one each day, during the middle of the day when traffic is light and I can enjoy the roads to myself. At the end of the week on Friday, I'll be taking my MR2 Spyder up to Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA and doing an open track day with the Sacramento Miata club. It has been probably over a year since I did a track day and I am really looking forward to it.

But first, some preparations are in order. I needed some new sneakers/driving shoes for starters. My old pair of New Balance sneakers are the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn, but man they are getting pretty old -- I think they must be at least 3 years old by now. There's barely any tread on them, and they're getting a little dingy. Ideally I'd just get another pair of the same style, but it doesn't look like New Balance makes them anymore. So I settled for a new pair of Skechers sneakers that look somewhat similar, and are very stylish -- nice two-tone shades of grey and black that go well with my black MR2 and my silver IS350. Does that make me metrosexual, that I color coordinate my shoes with my cars?

I also dusted off my racing helmet and started doing some cleaning; I'm also thinking of tinting the visor to help cut down on some glare. I recently tinted the windows on my IS350 (pics coming soon) so I might go back to the same guys and ask if they can help me with the visor.

And to make sure that the Spyder is in tip-top condition for the drives and the track day, I'm going to do some work on it as well. Check the suspension and brakes, do an oil change, make sure everything is working perfectly. I also bought a new set of fat tires, they are Toyo Proxes T1Rs, 205/50-R15 in front, and 225/50-R15 in back. I got them mounted on my spare set of SSR Competition wheels and will install them on my Spyder today ... then the car will be officially pimped and ready to roll next week.